Rewards Case Study: Kellogg's Family Rewards

Cereal is one of my favorite foods. From Froot Loops to Frosted Flakes and everything in between, cereal has been a staple in our family’s diet, which means it’s one of the things that always made it onto the grocery list.

As a firm believer in breakfast for dinner, I find myself wondering what we could have earned as members of the Kellogg’s Family Rewards program. After all, we probably spent hundreds of dollars on cereal alone, which is only a small part of the Kellogg’s product line!

Intrigued, I decided to dig a little further to find out what my mom was (or was not) missing for all these years.

Why Kellogg's Family Rewards are grrrreat!

Tony the Tiger’s catchphrase is so iconic that my elementary school actually included it as part of its cheer. Now, 20 years later, I’m still finding reasons to say it as Kellogg’s proves that its rewards program truly is grrrreat!

Program structure is easy to understand

For many people, there are few things worse than having to go grocery shopping. It’s time consuming, tedious, and expensive. Thankfully, Kellogg’s seems committed to making groceries as simple as possible, and designed their Family Rewards program to be as simple as 1-2-3!

With simple visuals and clear, descriptive text, Kellogg’s uses their explainer page to communicate the ins and outs of their program quickly and effectively. Within only a couple of seconds, customers understand that all they need to do to participate is shop, earn, and redeem, making it an appealing program to join.

They’ve even made a custom video to go along with it! Since most online viewers prefer video to text, their program becomes even more accessible to everyone who finds it. Combine this with the easy-to-find “How it works” tab at the top of their site and their program becomes not only easy to understand but also easy to find.

Both of these factors increase the likelihood of new and existing customers joining their program, turning lifelong customers into lifelong rewarded customers.

Extensive rewards catalog

We live in a world where everyone wants a choice. When I was a kid, the ultimate choice was which cereal to choose — did I want Apple Jacks or Corn Pops? Now as an adult, one of the best choices I get to make is how I want to be rewarded by the brands I shop with, and Kellogg’s doesn’t disappoint.

The Kellogg’s Family Rewards program offers something for everyone, regardless of which products you prefer or hobbies you might have. Not only is their rewards catalog extensive, but the rewards themselves are also reasonably “priced,” making it possible for customers to redeem their points for whatever they’d like to get their hands on.

This extensive rewards menu even has a points range slider, making it easy to browse their extensive catalog for only those rewards that fall into your “price range.” Interactive elements like this make a rewards program fun to interact with even when you don’t have points to spend, having small but powerful impacts on the overall brand experience.

By breaking their rewards down into product categories and distinct price points (pun fully intended), they make their rewards appealing to all types of customers who have points to burn.

Clear commitment to customer value

There are very few brands out there who deliberately go out of their way to let their customers know how they can save more money. However, that doesn’t stop Kellogg’s! When you land on their website, one of the first things you see are links for “Offers” and “Coupons” listed alongside their prompt to “Buy Now.”

Both of these pages highlight coupons and special offers customers can take advantage of, and even tell customers how much they can save by using them! Available as digital copies or printable coupons, every offer is highly accessible and visible at every stage in their online experience.

This is by far the most impressive part of their program because it clearly shows that their customer’s values and motivations are their top priority. Making these types of money-saving opportunities so readily available allows them to transform grocery shopping from a potentially stressful, expensive experience into one that’s rewarding and, dare I say it, even enjoyable.

Combining their program with other brand offers maximizes the value for every customer, putting member satisfaction and experience at the front of their business. With a value proposition like this, it’s an easy decision to not only join but to stay engaged over time, too.

How Kellogg's Family Rewards lets their experience get soggy

There aren’t a lot of things I don’t like about eating cereal, but there’s no getting around it: soggy cereal sucks. No matter how good it tastes, the texture just isn’t right, and the same can be said about a few features of Kellogg’s Family Rewards.

Program is not widely promoted

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve grown up on Kellogg’s cereal. However, even with box after box of Frosted Flakes ending up in our cupboards, my mom had no idea that the Kellogg’s Family Rewards program existed. If she did I’m sure we would have enjoyed even more cereal (and potentially had more cavities) then we already did, but as it was she saw no reason to purchase more Kellogg’s products.

Now, as such a big brand with so many rewards available I found it hard to believe that it wasn’t advertised anywhere. Often reward programs like this are only available in the States, so I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, after a little more digging I discovered that apparently there’s a label on every box, but not one big enough to catch my attention or prompt me to take advantage of what they’re offering.

Web experience is stuck in the past

As someone who grew up with the Internet, it is extremely frustrating when I need to use a website that is stuck in the late 1990s. eCommerce is no longer the exception but rather the rule, which means no brand should be operating a website that looks like it isn’t updated regularly.

Kellogg’s didn’t seem to get the memo, though. One of the first things I thought to myself when I landed on the Family Rewards page was “what year is it?” Clunky links, oddly cropped visuals, and poor organization were only three of the things I identified as being outdated, and this trend continued to their login page. Everything about it just looks outdated, and I don’t even want to think about how poorly this would translate to mobile.

This type of negative reaction is extremely problematic because it dissuades customers from wanting to interact with their program. Web experience matters and is increasingly important to customers, which means brands like Kellogg’s need to accept we’re now in a digital age. Failing to improve their website could lead to many negative first impressions, creating a high barrier to entry for new customers looking to earn rewards on their next box of Rice Krispies.

Disconnected web elements

I wish that I could say that their poor web experience ended there, but it has another layer that I feel we need to address.

I don’t know about you, but when I visit a brand’s website I like when things make sense. Every page should clearly be connected to everything else and have a distinct flow that makes my browsing experience relatively seamless.

This is yet another memo Kellogg’s did not seem to get, since their rewards site is riddled with other brand elements that don’t seem to be at all related to their rewards program. Take their recipes section, for example. I love recipes as much as the next person, but what does that have to do with my membership in their Family Rewards program? This landing page doesn’t even list the products you need that could earn you more points, making this feel like an out-of-place, somewhat forced value-add marketing strategy.

However, my absolute favorite (if you can call it that) element has got to be the contest winners. An entire page of the website is dedicated to “real members, real rewards, and real winners” but nowhere do they tell me how or why these individuals have won these contests. Without this context, my experience with their website is automatically disjointed, causing confusion, frustration, and ultimately drawing my attention back to their website’s poor design.

Whether they’re actually disconnected or not, including each of these different things leaves customers to wonder if the website is for Kellogg’s Family Rewards specifically or the brand as a whole. Regardless of what they actually intended, it’s not very effective.

The way the cookie crumbles

I know I’ve been incredibly harsh on some elements of Kellogg’s Family Rewards, so you probably expect me to summarize this by saying this program isn’t worthwhile.

Well, I like to think I’m full of surprises because I actually think this program is pretty great. Yes, the website is stuck in the past and yes, they have not done a great job of promoting it, but the benefits they do provide are above and beyond some of the best I’ve seen in awhile.

By keeping their program structure extremely simple and putting their customers’ priorities above their own with additional offers and one of the most extensive rewards catalogs I’ve ever seen, Kellogg’s has done more than enough to convince customers that joining is worthwhile. For those lucky enough to discover their program it is undoubtedly a highly rewarding experience, and those yet to discover it will wish they had sooner.

As my mom (probably) said to me as a child, “that’s just the way the cookie crumbles” and with Kellogg’s Family Rewards, you can both have a cookie and eat it, too.

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